1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to a device for spraying or projecting a coating for use in forming a layout for an athletic playing field or court surface, and to methods for using such a device. More particularly, the invention relates to such a marking device for accurately applying two or more hash marks to a football field.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Most types of athletic playing fields and courts must have marking lines applied thereto for laying out boundaries and areas or regions of the field or court. In addition, under league regulations, football fields are required to have both five yard line markers, but also to have markers called “hash marks” at one yard intervals between the five yard line markers over the entire length of each side of the field. Hash marks for U.S. professional and college football fields are currently required to be precisely twenty-four (24″) inches in length, and are to be located four (4″) inches from each sideline. Some high school football fields have similarly spaced twenty-four (24″) inch hash marks that actually begin at and extend from the two sidelines.
While conventional coating devices for forming the long sidelines boundaries and the long five yard line markers across a football field are known in the art, such conventional devices are quite bulky and cumbersome to use. Due to the short length of each hash mark, using such devices to form hash marks at specific locations and to precise specifications on a field is not practical. In the known prior and current art, hash marks have been and are usually produced using templates and stencils. Of necessitaty, templates and stencils require multiple persons to handle, place, and then manually coat the material to form each hash mark, or a series of two or more hash marks, on the field at the obligatory one yard intervals and with therequired dimensions. The current method of forming hash marks requires an inordinate amount of time and person power. In addition, manually forming the hash marks often leads to inaccuracies in their size and placement.
Accordingly, there exists a need for a device for accurately, precisely and reproducibly applying hash marks to a football field playing surface, which device requires only a single person to accurately place two or more hash marks in their required location. Additionally, a need exists for a device and method for coating hash marks on a football field surface which device and method are both easy to use and accurate.